Egypt’s Minster of International Cooperation, Rania Al-Mashat, met on Sunday with the Ambassador of Belgium, François Cornet D’Elzius, along with the Head of Commercial Negotiations in the Belgian embassy, Haguer Magdi, to discuss the future plans of the bilateral cooperation between the countries, in alignment with the 2030 vision’s sustainable development goals.

Minister Al-Mashat said that the ministry has been working on various agreements with the European Union regarding projects listed for development financing for 2022.

She added that the history of cooperation between the two countries is extensive and has been tangible in many sectors: chiefly the cultural development plan concerning the construction of the Grand Egyptian Museum, and the restoration of the Baron Palace, among many other projects.

During the meeting, D’Elzius said that Belgium is eager to further cooperate with Egypt on the development of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, and on the establishment of a strong public-private dialogue in the Egyptian business sphere.

He also expressed interest in developing cooperation platforms between Belgian and Egyptian companies working in similar fields, for the sake of deepening the development partnership between both countries.

Egypt and Belgium have cooperated on the restoration project of the Baron Palace, under the debt-swap programme between both countries, for an agreement worth €2.14 million (EGP 16 million), by signing a memorandum of understanding on 11 September 2019, according to the ministry.

According to the annual report, released by the Ministry of International Cooperation in December, the ministry secured development financing agreements worth $9.8 billion during 2020; $6.7 billion of which were for financing sovereign projects, and $3.1 billion for supporting the private sector.